Entries in Chicken
(54)

Joel has a pretty sweet work schedule. During the summer, he is off on Fridays. Since I am home too, we try to take advantage of the time and go out for lunch together. We started our Friday lunch date series off at a new-ish noodle bar. While they are known for their pho, another dish on the menu caught my eye. Upon the waiter's recommendation, I ended up ordering crispy egg noodles and have not been able to stop thinking about them ever since. The texture of the fried noodles paired with stir fried vegetables and delicious sauce makes for one pretty amazing dish. After a few weeks had passed, I kept suggesting we go back to the noodle bar for lunch, but since summer is so short and there were so many other places we wanted to try, we weren't able to get back. Saddened by the thought that I couldn't order my crispy noodles, I searched for recipes to see if I'd be able to make it at home. Luckily, I found one that was quite simple and absolutely delicious! Now that I know I can make crispy noodles at home whenever I have a craving, maybe the next time we go to the noodle bar, I can try their famous pho!

Cook the noodles according to package directions. Drain well and set aside. Heat a frying pan over high heat and add 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil. Evenly spread out a handful of noodles in the pan, turn the heat to low, and allow the noodles to gently fry for 4-5 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp on the bottom. Gently flip the noodles over, adding another 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil to the pan. Cook for another 4-5 minutes, or until they are golden brown and crisp on the bottom. Remove from the pan and drain on a paper towel. Repeat with remaining noodles (recipe makes 4 servings). Meanwhile, heat a wok over high heat and add 1 teaspoon of oil. Add the chicken strips to the wok and cook until the chicken is golden brown and cooked through. Remove the chicken from the wok, add the vegetables, and stir fry until crisp-tender; remove the vegetables from the wok. In a small bowl, make a slurry with the cornstarch and water. Add the mirin, oyster sauce, soy sauce, chicken stock, salt, and pepper to to wok and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, whisk the slurry into the wok, and bring to a simmer. When the sauce has thickened slightly, return the chicken and vegetables to the wok and stir to coat in the sauce. To serve, place the crispy noodles on a plate and spoon the chicken, vegetables, and sauce over the top. Garnish with sliced scallions.

First of all, I want to apologize for the dark picture; I made this for dinner on a Wednesday, Joel didn't come home from sailing until 10pm, and I didn't think that it would look nearly as appetizing the next day after the avocado had time to oxidize. Now that thats out of the way...Today is the last Secret Recipe Club reveal day of the summer. Though I'm sad to see summer go, I'm looking forward to getting back to a routine once school starts. This month, I was assigned to Jaime's blog, Mom's Test Kitchen. Jaime is a wife and mom of a sweet little girl, yet she still has time to participate in (and host) several different recipe round-ups quite regularly. I don't know how on earth she has the time or energy, but I'm glad she does because she has quite the collection of great recipes on her site! I happily searched through her blog and came across this interesting twist on a classic dish. Swapping out mayo for a healthier fat like mashed avocado is definitely something I never would have thought of on my own, but it really gave the chicken salad a nice flavor and made me feel a little healthier eating it. If you are bored with traditional chicken salad, I highly recommend giving this fun twist a try. Thanks, Jaime, for showing me how to use avocado as a delicious substitute in a classic favorite!

Last week, Joel and I were on vacation in Newport, Rhode Island. Being on vacation was great, and I ate my weight in fresh seafood which was amazing, but eating out twice a day for a week did get a little old. Of course, as soon as we got home, we proceeded to eat out two more days rather than go grocery shopping…we are so lazy sometimes! Wanting to put an end to that, I reluctantly got myself out of vacation mode, threw together a somewhat healthy menu and went grocery shopping. This meal, being one of the first to go on the menu, was outstanding! It was a simple, one-dish kind of meal that was really quite easy to prepare, feeds a crowd (probably a good 6 people), and leaves you full. It was the perfect dish to transition into cooking at home again.

In a large, nonstick skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until crispy. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and place it on a paper towel to drain. Add the onions to the skillet and coat in the rendered bacon grease. Cover the skillet, reduce the heat to low, and cook the onions until they begin to caramelize, about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, then remove the onion and garlic to a bowl and set aside. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, paprika, and onion powder. Add the chicken to the empty skillet over medium-high heat and cook until it is browned and golden on all sides, about 10 minutes. Once the chicken is cooked through, stir in the BBQ sauce and reduce the heat to low. Add the cooked quinoa, onions with garlic, chickpeas, corn, red pepper, and half of the cilantro and scallions. Toss well to mix. Stir in the bacon, reserving a handful for topping. Serve and garnish with the remaining cilantro, scallions, and bacon.

Since I made a heavy dish Thursday night, and we ate the leftovers for lunch yesterday, we needed something on the lighter side for dinner last night. This salad fit the bill. I had leftover chicken and blue cheese in the fridge, and pecans in the freezer, so it took very little planning to get this on the table. The tang from the BBQ sauce gave the chicken great flavor, and the sweetness from the candied pecans gave this salad a delicious crunch. This hearty salad was not only delicious, but filling, yet light at the same time. *See those super cute giraffe salad tongs? My cousin brought them back from her trip to Africa. They were hand made, purchased by trade. While I'm sure that they can be used, I think that they are too cool to possibly mess up, so they are just for show and I hung them on the wall in my kitchen.

Coat the chicken with the BBQ sauce and marinate for at least 30 minutes. Cook the chicken over medium heat on the grill until cooked through. Allow the chicken to cool slightly, then slice. Gently rip the lettuce leaves and place into a large bowl. Place the sliced chicken over the top. Sprinkle on the nuts, cherries, and blue cheese. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the top and enjoy!

Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray. In a large bowl, combine the syrup, sugar, vanilla, and salt, stirring to blend well. Add the pecans and gently stir to coat. Transfer the pecans to the baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes, stirring the mixture half way through baking. When the nuts are still hot, separate them with a fork. Allow to cool and store any leftover nuts in an airtight container.

In a bowl, whisk together the honey, mustard, salt, pepper, and garlic. Add the balsamic vinegar and stir. Gradually whisk in the olive oil until the dressing is fully emulsified. Store in a jar with a lid in the refrigerator. Makes about 13 ounces of dressing.

We have our fair share of Italian restaurants in our area, and chicken parmesan is on just about every menu. While the dish can be greasier at some restaurants than others, once you've had the dish at one restaurant, you've pretty much had it everywhere else; meaning there is pretty much no variation when it comes to chicken parmesan, except for of course swapping out the chicken for eggplant. Because of this, I don't typically make chicken parm at home. However, when I saw an actual variation for a chicken parm recipe that made it slightly spicier and included beer, I was sold. I couldn't wait to give these sandwiches a try. They took a little while to come together, but once they were done, they had a flavor unto themselves. We were hooked! The breaded chicken was perfectly flavored and the sauce had a bit of a kick to it. We ended up with some sauce leftover, which will be great for pasta tossed with vegetables later in the week, or frozen for another meal.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook until the skins start to peel, about 5 more minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add the beer and the tomato paste and allow to simmer until most of the tomatoes have broken down, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a large food processor or a blender, along with the chipotle pepper, basil, salt, paprika, and oregano; process until smooth. Taste the sauce and add additional chipotle peppers if desired (the more you add, the spicier the sauce will be). If the sauce is too watery, return it to the stove and simmer until it has reduced and thickened to your desired consistency. The sauce can be made up to 3 days in advance, stored in sealed containers in the refrigerator.

Slice the chicken breasts in half, creating 2 filets from each breast. Pound the chicken to an even thickness using a meat mallet, rolling pin, or heavy frying pan and pat it dry. Place the eggs in a bowl and beat well. In a separate bowl, place the flour. In a third bowl, mix the breadcrumbs and parmesan. Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour, shaking off any excess; dip the chicken in the egg bowl, turning to coat; finally, dredge the chicken in the breadcrumbs until fully coated. Fry the chicken in the hot oil until golden brown on the underside, about 3 minutes. Turn, and continue cooking until the chicken has cooked through (this is where my chicken started to burn, so I finished cooking it in a 375 degree oven on a baking rack over a cookie sheet) Slice the rolls in half and place them on a baking sheet. Spoon generous amounts of the sauce onto the rolls. Cut the cooked chicken filets in half, lengthwise, so that they will fit on the roll. Top the chicken with a slice of mozzarella and sprinkle with additional parmesan cheese, if desired. Place the open-face sandwiches under a broiler for 30 seconds, or until the cheese is melted and slightly golden. Top the sandwich with additional sauce and the other half of the roll and serve.